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Hitachi Koki eyes doubling India capacity

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Hrithik Kiran Bagade, May 5, 2016, Bengaluru, Dhns,

May 04 2016, 22:40pm ist

updated: May 04 2016, 22:40pm ist

Japanese powertool major Hitachi Koki Co has announced plans to double its manufacturing capacity in India to 20,000 units a month, from the current 10,000 units, which it aims to accomplish by the end of this fiscal.

Motivated by India’s push towards development of Smart Cities, and spurt in infrastructure, construction and real estate activities in the country, Hitachi Koki wants to cater to the growing demand for powertools, which are imperative in the operations of the said areas.

“The Indian market for powertools is getting bigger, even as the economy has been growing in the past 10 years or so. Government policies, especially the ‘Make in India’ campaign, have helped build the industry, increasing production. We are actively going to participate in the Smart Cities initiative in the realms of construction, installation and erection of structures,” Hitachi Koki Co President and Representative Executive Officer Osami Maehara, who was in Bengaluru to commemorate the company’s 20 years in India recently, told Deccan Herald.

The company’s Indian subsidiary, Hitachi Koki India, runs a facility at Peenya, Bengaluru. While only around 10% of the company’s product portfolio rolls out of India, the remaining larger share is produced in factories worldwide. A chunk of all this output gets consumed in India, depending on need and demand.

“The branded powertools industry in India is to the tune of Rs 1,400 crore, growing at a CAGR of 5-6%. The organised, branded segment for powertools in the country occupies a considerable 40% of the overall market,” Hitachi Koki India Executive Director and Secretary Dattatraya Joshi said.

Hitachi Koki India plans to make the local facility a hub for the Middle East and Africa, to where it would start exporting its products in the next 3-5 years. “Increasing capacity is an ongoing process. We source components from around 30 suppliers, which go into the assembly of our products in India,” Joshi added.

The company, which acquired German tool-maker Metabo last year, has hinted at bringing the latter’s products to India sometime in the future. Today, Hitachi Koki India boasts of 400 dealers marketing its wares, apart from 65 authorised service centres.

“Over the last 20 years, we have grown at a CAGR of 16%, well above the industry average, and also hold 16% share in the branded segment. In fiscal 2015-16, we sold 3.4 lakh tools. Even this year, we are confident of growing more than the industry, at around 12%,” he said.

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